The European Union no longer wants to be open to trade at any price. In its “economic security doctrine”, presented on Wednesday 3 December, the European Commission explains that it wants to make more proactive use of all the tools that can serve its economic interests, from trade defence and competition to European funding programmes. This is because “even a champion of open trade knows that openness without security becomes vulnerability”, said European Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič.
The doctrine he presented therefore suggests adopting a proactive and targeted approach, especially when it comes to high-risk sectors. To achieve this, “the EU, Member States and businesses will increasingly have to accept the economic costs that go with increased resilience and security”, the European Commission admits in its press release.
Six priority areas have been identified upon which to focus efforts over the coming years: - reducing strategic dependencies; - attracting secure investment; - supporting the defence and space industry; - guaranteeing European leadership in critical technologies; - protecting sensitive data; - protecting critical infrastructures.
In practical terms, this means, for example, that the European Commission will take greater account of economic security issues when deciding upon trade defence instruments or competition cases.
This also involves new initiatives to limit dependencies and risks, such as the RESourceEU action plan on critical raw materials, presented on the same day (see other news).
In operational terms, the Commission wants to create an ‘information hub’ on economic security; this will bring together the information collected by various existing mechanisms – public and private – that are relevant to identifying sectors at risk. Trade flows in these risky sectors will then be closely monitored.
The Commission also suggests that each EU Member State should have a (high-level) adviser on economic security. By bringing the 27 councillors together on a regular basis, the European Commission aims to promote greater coordination between national policies.
Beyond the EU’s borders, the Commission also wants to strengthen cooperation with close partners on economic security. In particular, it wants to work on developing standards in this area to build resilient value chains. The G7 and Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) partners are ideal in this respect.
View the economic security doctrine: https://aeur.eu/f/jtk (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)